N/Assembly jacks up 2008 budget benchmark to $59

Taiwo Adisa, Abuja - 14.01.2008

The National Assembly is set to fix the crude oil benchmark for the 2008 budget at $59 per barrel, notwithstanding the fact that the price of crude oil currently hovers around $100 per barrel.

Sources in the National Assembly confirmed to the Nigerian Tribune that the Committees of Appropriation and Finance at both the House of Representatives and the Senate had settled for $59 benchmark, contrary to the price originally proposed by the executive during the presentation of the budget.

President Umaru Yar’Adua had announced a benchmark of $53.83 per barrel while delivering the 2008 budget speech at the National Assembly last November.

The Minister of Finance, Dr. Shamsudeen Usman, had while defending the benchmark proposed by the executive, said that the figures were arrived at after considering some factors.

But the National Assembly has not been impressed with the insistence of the executive on the crude oil benchmark, even before the recent upsurge in crude oil prices in the international market.

The legislators had targetted higher benchmark that will also be able to cope with any sudden drop in the prices of crude oil in the international market.

Besides, the legislators had argued that the excess crude oil account had been increasing with unbudgetted funds over the years, while the needs of Nigerians continue to suffer in many aspects.

They have thus been thinking of how to capture a huge chunk of the excess crude money in the budget for distribution into other areas.

Sources said that the National Assembly had decided on the need to jack up the budgetary provisions of the Ministry of Transport, particularly the works section, which was allocated N74 bilion in the 2008 budget by the executive.